Living the French Life : Yet Another Adventure

Yet another holiday and come and gone here in France. I am really liking these long random vacations I keep getting! I have can say I have officially started the whole typical American part of my trip. We hit three French towns during our break; Paris, La Rochelle, and Bordeaux. I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to these cities! Although I will say, the weathers gods have made it clear that they enjoy watching us suffer when we travel. It never stopped raining on us! I can only hope during the May backpacking trip we can avoid this unlucky fortune. I am also going to apologize in advance for the long post this will most likely be. I just had such a great time I can’t help but share everything.

So for starters, we headed out to Paris for a quick weekend trip. I arrived Friday and we went nonstop from the moment I arrived until the moment we left. If you have me on Facebook, you already have an idea of the things that we did but I will go into details anyways. We decided that on Friday we were going to save all the money we could and just walk to all of our destinations. If you are able to do this I would highly recommend it! We got the chance to see so much more of Paris and the city is breathtaking! We started out with the Love Lock Bridge and Notre Dame since they are so close to Gare d’Austerlitz (where I arrived). We apparently arrived at the worst time because the lines were absolutely insane! So instead of just standing in the rain for an hour and wasting time, we made our way to Shakespeare and Company , which is also really close, to check out the famous bookstore and get out of the rain for a bit. After a while there, the lines calmed down and we were able to enter Notre Dame. It really is beautiful! We might have cheated and went into one of the cathedrals in Limoges first which is built in replica of Notre Dame so it didn’t really wow me like it should have, but nonetheless beautiful! From there we made our way to Saint Chapelle Cathedral and Marie Antoinette’s Conciergerie (where she was imprisoned), it is amazing how it has held up! I was blown away by how beautiful a prison could be. When walking through, you also get a look at the different cells for different parts of class. Talk about drastic differences! From there we headed to the Louvre and the gardens. I could hang out there for days! The Louvre unbelievably large! We went in just for Napoleon’s apartment and that alone took us at least 45 minutes, worth every minute might I add. Walking from there is the best part! You walk through the gardens and down to the important things…. Champs Elysee! I am a loyal Gossip Girl lover which means I obviously had to stop at La Duree! Let me just get this out there, ONLY GET MACAROONS FROM THERE! We decided to have tea and a dessert and it was the worst decision I have ever made! That still pains me to admit. We ended the day with a trip to the Eiffel Tower. It is something that I have dreamed about for as long as I can remember and when everyone talks about it, they always mention it is really nothing spectacular, but I have to disagree! There is something about it that I just found mesmerizing. After a long day of sightseeing, the hostel we were staying in was the only thing on my mind. St Christopher’s by Gare de Nord is amazing! We met some really amazing Canadians who really made our first hostel stay memorable! We ended out trip with Justin Timberlake. I have always had a major crush on him but after seeing him live, I think it’s safe to say I am in love. His show is to die for! I am still not over that experience! I pretty sure in 50 years I will still be on a high from that one!

After only an hour of sleep, we took the train to La Rochelle. Lucky us, when we arrived I thought we were in the middle of a hurricane! After waiting it out as much as we could in a coffee shop, we decided to brave the wind and rain. Unfortunately, we only had time to do the three medieval ports; I guess you could call them. Talk about a hike! It was so much fun though. The town is beautiful! I can’t even imagine what it would look like with the sun shining. The harbor makes for a great stroll through town along with some really great restaurants. We only stayed there for a few hours unfortunately though.

From there, we were Bordeaux bound. The city really is all that it is cracked up to be! The best part of the town is that is perfect for just strolling and seeing everything. It is really easy to walk your way through the main attractions. We had to take our luggage with us throughout the whole day but it was so worth it! I hope to make it back one more time before I leave to do a wine tour. Bordeaux wine is extremely famous so why not enjoy a nice tour of one of the most famous spots in France?! One of the highlights of the trip is climbing all the way to the top of the tower by one of the cathedrals in town. There were over 200 steps and it was a nice reminder just how out of shape I am! Once at the top though, you have the most amazing view! You can see all around the city. It really is worth all the spins you will endure while walking up and down the spiral stairs!

Now it is time for finish up one more week of class and get ready for our next adventure: backpacking Europe! I can only hope that trip will come out being just as amazing, or more, than this last one! As always, hope you enjoy some of the pictures to go along with my journey!

Love Lock Bridge and Notre Dame